


Mass Effect: Contact

by knowledge_through_challenge



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, First Contact, First Contact War, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-07 10:08:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21214478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knowledge_through_challenge/pseuds/knowledge_through_challenge
Summary: When the humans ascended to the stars, they thought they'd discovered some great secret. Their rapid expansion brought them no real attention for years - not until the Relay 314 incident.Or so they thought.One young woman, captured by aliens, desperately tries to escape.Meanwhile, her shipmates - and her people - move further out into the galaxy. The First Contact War approaches, as does humanity's ascension to the galactic stage.





	Mass Effect: Contact

**Author's Note:**

> Bit of canon divergence here on Hackett's age and rank and suchlike, and obviously contact happening earlier than usual. Other than that? Honestly just sitting here indulging my headcanons. Enjoy!

“My God.”

Lieutenant Jaymie McKenzie looked up from her console, stepping up next to Private Andrews, her own eyes wide with an echo of his wonder. A_ mass relay_. Up until recently, space travel had only been undertaken by the bravest (and most reckless) of explorers. But with the Alliance expanding into space, their best and brightest could get out there – and somehow, she’d ended up being one of those.   


Not that she was a fighter, no – but scientists were needed to find out as much as possible about the galaxy at large, and she was more than keen to take on that role. And so, with a promotion out of nowhere, she was out in the galaxy. And it was remarkable, staring out of the window at the vast expanse of space. Out there, somewhere, was the light of their sun – their sun as it had been a hundred years beforehand. She was biting her lip, shifting from foot to foot, when Captain Johnstone came in the door, Commander Adebayo on his tail, her lips half upturned.

“Still gawking at the galaxy, McKenzie? We didn’t come here to think about how pretty it is. We need to see how many of those relays there are, and we’re not gonna find that out by staring,” the Commander said, a small smirk in the upturn of her lips.

Shifting uncomfortably, Jaymie offered up an apologetic smile. “Sorry, ma’am. It’s just… it’s remarkable, isn’t it? This is… _space_. Actual _space_. With _alien technology_.”

Johnstone’s lips quirked up. For once, he’d abandoned his cap, his sandy hair falling over his face.

“Remarkable it might be, but we’ll have plenty of time to stare it once we’ve studied them and made space travel a little more accessible,” he told her, clasping his hands behind his back. “So tell me, McKenzie, what do you need?”

“A shuttle, sir. I want to get closer to it. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure I don’t go through it. I’m not planning to go off on my own. Doubt the shuttle would survive the journey, regardless. Just want to do a flyby, get some readings,” she said, bouncing on her toes, _very_ keen to get out there and catch at least _some _data. She’d been through a relay once already, the one that had taken them here, but she knew there had to be a way to get the relays to take them into other parts of space – to program them so they could go further afield than a system or two. She just had to figure out _how_.

Andrews was clearly not pleased with this development – but she wasn’t sure he was pleased with very much. He seemed desperate to keep all research on the ship, and she wasn’t sure if it was because he was overly cautious that there were aliens lurking out there, waiting to take them hostage, or if it was because he was convinced the gravity of the relay would pull her in. Which, again, was ridiculous. She’d passed all her tests, she was fairly certain she could handle a few hours of a flyby.

Johnstone considered her request for a moment before he nodded, “You can head off at 0630 hours tomorrow. You’re to be back by 1000. We can do longer flybys provided this one doesn’t go pear-shaped.”

Jaymie did her best to hide how _thrilled_ she was by the revelation, but she knew that the Commander caught it, giving her a wink before the two of them started to question Andrews on his findings. Jaymie took the opportunity to start writing up the main things she wanted to look for the next day – barely able to contain her excitement.

* * *

“_Wow.”_

Hannah Shepard’s quiet utterance was met by laughter from Steven, who was breathing equally heavily next to her. Both of them were staring at the ceiling of the shuttle – one Hannah had persuaded Johnstone they _absolutely_ required for _super important_ work on one of the planets – it wasn’t as though she had half the information written up already. Of course not.

Laughing at her exclamation, Steven pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Enjoy that, Lieutenant?” he asked, propping himself up on his arm, and she whacked him in the chest.

“Technically it’s Lieutenant _Junior Grade_. Aren’t you the one who always likes to remind me of that, _sir?”_ she teased, moving to straddle him again, an eyebrow raised in challenge. It was nice to be able to have him properly – out there, on the ship, their relationship had to be a secret. Occasionally, he’d press his fingers to the back of her wrist or let her pull him into a closet, but he was cautious. Moreso than she was, but… well. They had to be. If they disregarded that caution, both of them would end up with a court martial at _best_, as two (reasonably) fresh-faced officers. His hand went to her hip, and she placed her own over it. She’d just leaned down to kiss him when the chime suggesting they were wanted by the ship went off, and she was glad it was just voice-comm in that particular shuttle.

She certainly didn’t have the time to put a shirt on. Or do up her hair.

“Lieutenant Junior Grade Shepard, this is the SSV Traverse. Do you copy?”

Pressing the button to reply, she kept her eyes on Steven as he started to dress, enjoying the view, “I copy, Traverse.”

“You’re to return to the ship as soon as possible, and prep the shuttle. Lieutenant McKenzie will need it to study the relay.”

“Understood. We will be returning shortly,” she said, before cutting the transmission. She pouted at Steven. “Looks like we’ll be cutting this short.”

She started to dress as well, but not before she was caught around the waist by the man, who raised an eyebrow at her. “No more asking the Captain for a shuttle just so we can make love. Someone else might need it.”

She snorted, “Nobody needed it. I, on the other hand, needed something. I’ve got it, now, and I feel _much_ better.”

She grinned at his long-suffering expression before going to dress herself, trying not to make _too _much of a show of it – even if she could feel Steven’s eyes on her.

Dressed, she made her way over to the controls, glancing at him over her shoulder, some pride filling her at his dazed expression. “Are you coming?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m… flying. Yes.”

* * *

“Am I cleared to leave?” Jaymie asked, fingers hovering over the console, grinning when confirmation came over comms and the hangar bay opened. She did a quick turn to get to the Relay – behind the ship, which was currently more interested in one of the potentially habitable planets. She went to loop around to the far side of the Relay, starting up her sensors.

“Let’s see what secrets you’re hiding, hm?” she murmured to herself, starting up the sensors. She needed to figure out how to get them expanding, how to move beyond the few galaxies they’d discovered so far. Humanity was ready for new places to live, and she intended to find it. The Protheans had made _everything_ with precision, and she was certain these were no exception. Tapping away on her pad, she’d been up for all of an hour when she suddenly heard something behind her.

Turning, she saw it – just outside the window of her shuttle. At first, she’d thought it had to be an Alliance vessel – except it didn’t have Alliance colors. Civilian travel hadn’t been authorized or attempted yet, which meant…

_Oh my God. I’m going to make first contact_.

She went over to her console, “Traverse? It’s McKenzie. We have an unidentified vessel over here. I suspect extra-terrestrial origin.”

Static.

_Shit. That’s not good_.

Static meant her communications had been severed. Whether it was interference from the relay, however, or from this ship, she couldn’t tell. So she tried a different tactic.

“Unidentified alien vessel. I am Lieutenant McKenzie of the Alliance Navy. I ask that you turn off your interference so that I might inform my ship of your existence.”

Nothing. Then – a series of high pitched screeching sounds. She reached up to cover her ears, uncertain what she was hearing, a little unnerved. Her excitement drained into dawning fear and understanding, and when her ship started to move… everything turned black.

* * *

“Dartis. You can watch the… creature,” the Captain had stated, which had naturally filled Caelus with an unending sense of pride. He wanted nothing more than to babysit their newly acquired alien, with its’ squishy body and odd fringe.

_Not_.

They’d shoved a translator into its’ ear and ran its’ earlier transmission through the matrix a few times, trying to let the computer figure out what it was going on about. The translation was likely to be imperfect for the first few minutes, but it would improve with time.

"Have you contacted the hierarchy about it?" he'd asked, but hadn't received any kind of response. Not that he expected one - he wasn't an important soldier, he was barely a grunt. And while he was getting increasingly suspicious about his superiors and their behavior - they didn't seem to tell the hierarchy _anything_ \- he also wasn't in a position to complain. For all he knew, this creature was important for a mission of some sort. It was bipedal, at least, but it looked weird. Its' legs were the wrong way, for starters, and that was without getting started on the stuff on its' head.

The thing stirred before sitting up, staring at him with wide eyes. He stared back.

“What the _fuck_ are you?” it asked. 

_Well, that's just offensive._

He stared back at it for a moment before huffing and looking away. Perhaps if he ignored it, he'd get lucky and it would go away. 


End file.
